HEALTHFIRST, NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH PROVIDERS SIGN ACQUISITION AGREEMENT

New York, NY (Oct. 17) – Healthfirst, the largest Medicaid managed care plan in the downstate New York area, announced today that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Neighborhood Health Providers (Neighborhood), a 218,000-member Medicaid plan. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, will reduce fragmentation in the Medicaid managed care market and facilitate more effective care coordination strategies for underserved populations.

“Healthfirst and Neighborhood have each succeeded in ensuring that local communities have access to high quality healthcare suited to their needs,” said Pat Wang, Healthfirst President and CEO. “We believe that the increased scale made possible by this transaction will enable us to do even more for our members and to collaborate more effectively with our provider and community partners. This combination will also increase our ability to help implement the recommendations of the New York State Medicaid Reform Team to make care coordination available throughout the Medicaid program.”

“Our two organizations share similar missions and approaches to ensuring quality and member satisfaction in an efficiently run environment,” said Steven Bory, Neighborhood President and CEO.  “We look forward to working with Healthfirst on a transition that blends the best that each organization has to offer.”

Healthfirst was advised by Brian Platton, Charlotte Edelman and Nili Yolin of Mintz, Levin and Marc Cabrera of Morgan Joseph TriArtisan. Neighborhood was advised by Jeff Thrope and Mark Waxman of Foley Lardner and Mark Francis of Houlihan Lokey.

About Healthfirst

Healthfirst is a 700,000-member not-for-profit managed care organization serving the metropolitan New York area and New Jersey.  Its membership includes about 550,000 clients in New York’s Medicaid, Family Health Plus, and Child Health Plus programs. It offers managed long term care services through its subsidiary, Senior Health Partners, and is one of the largest Medicare Advantage plans in the region. For more information, visit the company's websites at www.healthfirst.organdwww.healthfirstnj.org.

About Neighborhood Health Providers

Neighborhood Health Providers (Neighborhood) is a not-for-profit managed care plan created in 1995 to serve Medicaid clients in certain zip codes of Brooklyn and Queens. Currently, Neighborhood serves all boroughs of New York City and Suffolk County, with more than 218,000 Medicaid Managed Care, Family Health Plus and Child Health Plus enrollees. For more information, visit www.getnhp.com.

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